Birthday, Baptism and Brunch

Birthday, Baptism and Brunch...oh my...What a weekend.

A few weeks ago (EDIT:now 2 months ago) we were in PA for Mac & Harper's 1st birthday and Cecilia's Baptism.  It was a whirlwind of a weekend with so many people to see and things to do.  C is a really great traveler, so we are lucky in that respect.  We left Friday night just before her normal bedtime and she slept the entire way.  Being the crazy person that I am thought that buying tickets to the 9:30 showing of the Hunger Games with my family was a good idea.  Sam had to be up super early that morning, which means I woke up when his alarm went off at 4 am.  I usually fall back asleep but it's never restful.  I was working from home that day because Cecilia had a doctor's appointment at 11, and then I got my hair cut at 4.  So it was a day of trying to work while playing with her, taking her to the doctor's, dropping her off at day care, running back out to get my haircut and then getting home and finish packing and hitting the road.  We left at 6:30 and I got to the theater just in time.  Don't know if I would say it was worth it....Anyway...

Saturday was Mac and Harper's 1st Birthday party.  I can't believe it's been a year (and 3 months now) since they were born.  I wish Bren and Devin could still be here in DC so we could have baby play dates all the time, but things are good for them there.  Mac and Harper were adorable as always and watching them dive into their separate cakes was so much fun.  Harper was a bit more adventurous in digging into her cake and mushed it to pieces in no time.  Mac was a bit more hesitant but eventually dug right in too.   I think he wanted to share his with everyone.  Such a sweetheart!

After the parties we spent some time with family, visiting Mom-Mom and the Gadzicki's and then to the hotel where Sam's family was staying.  By bed time Cecilia was ready to be out so she was a bit fussy that evening.  We tried to get her home as soon as possible because we didn't want her to be crabby for her big day.

I was raised at the 8 am service at St. John's from the time I was about a week old.  It's the service that my extended family goes to and they have their "designated pews."  Now that  Cecilia is here I appreciate this extended family even more.  I know it's probably more of an exception than the rule that you see your aunts, cousins and great-aunts and uncles every week.  Right now we can't even say that we see Sam's parents every week and they live 7 minutes away.  I do miss being around family like I had when I was growing up.  Who knows...maybe one day we will make a return to PA.  I think it has probably been 4  years since having (almost) everyone together.  The last time would be in the same place when Sam and I got married.  I know Cecilia was feeling the love. 

We chose Erin(Sam's sister) and Christopher(my brother) as Cecilia's godparents.  She was mostly interested in eating Christopher's bulletin than what was going on around her.  She was a little hesitant about the water being poured on her head and tried to pull herself up from it, but didn't cry.  We had been practicing in the tub for a few weeks.   We got through the rest of the service without any meltdowns and then it was off to brunch. 

We found a place called Brickside Grille for bunch.  When we were looking for places to fit the 20 some people that we had, this was one of the places that accommodate the amount of people and the time frame that we wanted.  A few pluses that they had were giant fish tanks to entertain the kids and at 11 am there was a magician....

When I heard this I thought that I was going to Chuckee Cheese rather than a nice place for brunch  and when the man approached our table I had somewhat forgotten about the magician.  Charlie loved him though and thought his tricks were funny.  William was a hesitant but when he saw there was candy involved he jumped in.  Both of them got laser guns made out of balloons and that helped them run some of the 3/4 year old boy energy out!

What an angel....

We made a brief stop back at my parents house to take some pictures of Cecilia in her dress.  Isn't it gorgeous?!  One of the first things that Sam's mom asked me was if she could make her baptism dress.  It was while I was still pregnant so I wasn't even really thinking that far ahead.  I didn't have any sort of vision as to what it would look like but loved the material she had brought to show me.  I have no skills in that department so I am amazed at how beautiful it was.  She even made the headband to go along with it.  There were a few last minute tighten ups, but all in all it fit perfectly.  Hard to do considering she was growing what seemed like every minute. 

Oh and the shoes!  A neighbor of Sam's parents gave these to us when she was born.  They use them in dedications in her church and I thought they were perfect.  They were just the right size (maybe a little big) that day too. 





She seems so little her now that I am looking back on it all.  But still the same sweet face.  After the pictures she passed out, slept the whole way home, woke up to eat and then went down for the night.  She was exhausted from such a busy but it was wonderful to be with everyone and share her baptism with those who were invovled in mine as well. 

She makes me laugh

Yikes-It's been a month since I posted anything.  I've been writing some things but ran out of time, been exhausted or just had a lack of inspiration.  Also, I am terrible at downloading the pictures from my camera, and what is a blog about a baby without pictures of the baby.  
So things I have to come-her baptism, daycare closing, her first road trip, but for now it's just a couple of things that she has been doing this week that make me chuckle/smile.

Who can resist that face?

When I got home on Wednesday night after working late, Sam was telling me about C's day.  He said that when he was feeding her dinner (mixed veggies I believe) that he burped.  She laughed.  A little Huh huh huh laugh with a smile.  I, of course, had to try it out and gave a few burps myself which all got the same smile and little laugh.  These are the things I love. 

That night when we were finally getting her to go to sleep (my good sleeper is disappearing), she ended up in stereotypical baby sleeping position.  She was on her stomach with her butt as high as it could go in the air.  How is this comfortable for them?  I've never been a stomach sleeper so I just don't get it, but it is adorable.  I couldn't take a picture for fear of waking the monster, so instead here is an adorable sleeping baby picture taken by Papi when he was visiting. 

Favorite Things

I wanted to keep a running list of her "favorite" things at each age to try and remember what she was like and the new things that she is discovering.  I'm sure some of them are over exagerations in my head, but I wouldn't be her Mom if I didn't think she did everything the best and well before her time....

Cool kids wear sunglasses and headbands

The number one seed right now is definitely being outside.  We have had some unseaonably warm weather here lately which means we are tryign to get outside as much as we can.  Of course I am writing this on a day when it is cloudy and rainy, but having 70 degree days with warm sunshine in March has been amazing to me.  I thought I would be stuck in the house with her all the time, but she LOVES her walks.  The first adventure we ever took with the Baby Bjorn was a complete and utter DISASTER!!! She was barely a month old and I decided that I should take her out of her car seat while she was asleep and put her into the Bjorn so Cici (Carol) and I could do some shopping at Kohl's.  Mommy Fail!  She screamed the whole time and it echoed through the whole store (at least it did in my head).  From there we tried it one or two other times while at home and at a better time of the day (aka not waking her up from a nap), and she still wasn't thrilled.  It wasn't until she was about 3 months old where she didn't mind being put in the Bjorn but even then it was for only short periods of time.  Once she got to the point where she could turn and face outward it was a whole different story.  She loves it.  She giggles at whatever she sees as we are walking.  Lots of OOOHs and AAHHHs.  I think half of them are directed as Desmond as he runs out ahead of us but I look forward to a spring and summer full of walks!


Feeding herself
From her first try at the rice cereal she has always wanted to be involved in eating.  Its funny to watch her take her arms all the way out to the sides like a plane and then whip them in as the spoon comes towards her mouth.  The doctor seemed impressed that she wanted to "help."  Maybe she will have more coordination than me.

Story Time-
We try to read to her on a regular basis as long as she will allow us to sit still.  At least one book is a part of our bedtime routine.  She looks at the pages and tries to turn them and closes the book when she is done.  She rarely lets me finish the page that I'm on before she wants to move to the next one....so impatient.

Music
Maybe this is more of a Mommy favorite than C's but I love to have music on for her and sing terribly to her.  Maybe it's something she will remember growing up.  Thank you Kristin for introducing Pandora's Children's Indie to me.  Gives me some ne music to listen to that is kid centric but better than just the normal  Itsy Bitsy Spider.  I think I might go crazy without it.  We mix it in with some classical and then my normal playlists on the iPod.  I'm trying to expose her to all different music and she can decide what she likes later.

Dogs are a Girl's Best Friend

Forget Diamonds,  Cecilia would rather have dogs!

Since we started putting Cecilia on the floor on a regular basis, Desmond would try to get in her face, lick her or just try to sit as close to her as possible.  At first it was just for our attention, but now he has a new target to attack with his kisses.  She couldn't be happier about it either.  The first time I really noticed it was when she was on the floor and I was washing dishes.  All of a sudden she was giggling like crazy.  When I looked down, there was Desmond, giving her feet a nice bath.    If she is crying, we know we can always point her in his direction and there is the big grin.

Friends from week 1

When I realized that our daycare provider had a dog I was a little worried about how she would react to them but turns out she couldn't be happier.  Skipper puts on shows for her every day with her blanket and gives her the occasional distraction that our provider needs!

I can only hope that as she gets more mobile he will still like her as much.  And that she learns quickly not to touch his toys!  She loves to reach out and try to put him and puts her hand down for him to lick.  I have to pull them apart and wipe her down.

She Rolled Over!!!

Just a quick update-still no video but she got from back to stomach today.  Today was not a great day at the start because I forgot things I needed this morning and I it was a crazy day at work, but all of those things led to me getting home early today.  If all those things hadn't gone wrong today I wouldn't have been home in time to see her do it.

We put her down on the mat and she was rocking back and forth.  She's been doing that for a few weeks but in the past week she's gotten to the point where she was stuck until she figured out how to get the arm out.  Sam was watching from the kitchen and could see she had some good momentum going.  I was doing some work but caught her in just enough time to see her get the arm out underneath.  I don't think she really knew what to do once it happened and wasn't a huge fan of all of our cheering.  She had some pouty lip while we were clapping and cheering.

She had some tummy time after that but it didn't last long.  Can't wait to watch her learn more and more everyday!

A Weekend of Firsts

I guess it's firsts all around.  First blog post to start.  I thought that since so many of you are not able to see Cecilia on a daily or weekly basis that I would try to put updates out there for everyone to see, since I am not much of a Facebook poster of pictures.  So in honor of the first blog post , here are a list of Cecilia's "firsts"  from this weekend. 

Tummy to Back-
Saturday morning Sam and I went in Cecilia's room when she woke up and she was such a happy girl.  She normally is in the morning, something she certainly didn't get from me.  We had her do some Tummy Time in the crib and twice she rolled from her stomach to her back.  Of course by the time we got the camera out she decided the show was over so nothing to show off here...but we swear she did it!

Such a morning girl!

First taste of Cereal-
Cecilia had her 4 month check up last Wednesday.  She weighs in at 14 lbs (75%), is 26.5 inches (95%) and has a head diameter at 50%.  So in 4 months she has gained 6.5 half pounds and grown 6 inches!  Lately when Sam and I look at her we just say "When did she get so big?!"  It's almost as if it happened overnight.  But on top of the weight/length check in and shots :-( we also got the okay to go ahead and try cereal.  I set out on Saturday morning (before 9 am-crazy how life has changed) to the grocery store to get the cereal and applesauce that the doctor suggested.  She was just hungry enough and well rested from her nap when I got home to try it out.  We put her in the Bumbo chair  and gave it a try.  More of the first round ended up on her hands, face and bib than in her mouth, but she gave it a good try...

Kisses anyone?

We've tried a a few more times over the weekend and this week and she is starting to get the hang of the spoons.  She certainly likes holding on to them. 

Hopefully in the next two weeks she'll be good enough that we will start sending cereal to daycare with her. 

After we made sure the cereal was going to stay down, we brought out the Johnny Jump Up and hung it in her door way.  She like hanging out in the jumper, while I tried to clean out her drawers of clothes that are too small...buhbye three month clothes-hello six!  There wasn't much jumping taking place, mostly just dangling, but at Didi and Grandfathers she got bouncing thanks to the help of Didi.  I'm sure we will have video soon, but here are some pictures of her in the jumper.

Saturday night brought a mommy daughter first-Dinner with "the girls."  We've been out plenty and to different places, but one place I have been a little hesitant about has been restaurants.  Adrienne was up from Richmond for the Georgetown basketball game so Sara, Ella, Cecilia and I met her in Bethesda.  We tried out Vapiano's since it was kinda loungey and had tables but was also quick service in case Cecilia or Ella didn't make it.  All of those perfectly behaved trips where she just slept wherever we took her are likely gone.  She was awake and quiet for awhile in her seat, but then got cranky.  It was after her bed time, so bad mommy for having her out so late partying.  Sadly no pictures because I was too concerned if she was going to have a total meltdown. 

With the success of the Johnny Jump Up, Sam and I decided it was time for an Exersaucer.  Here is my formal complaint about Target.  I hate the new Targets that have added grocery sections.  I hate that they cut out other sections to make room and one of them is the baby section.  We didn't register at Target because when we went there they didn't have any of the products to touch or look at in person.  They have so many things online but sometimes I need to see the quality.  So from Target I headed to Buy Buy Baby and had success there.  We got the Einstein Ocean, although I was looking for the Around the World because we already have the ocean playmat.  She better learn to love the beach though.  Again, we put her in it after some assembly by Daddy and again, one happy little camper. 

That's a fish behind her head...not devil horns

I must say that we are INCREDIBLY lucky to have a baby that is so happy, likes her sleep and is open to trying new things.  She's not afraid to tell you that she doesn't like something though. 

Well hopefully we can update once a week or so on what's going on in our occasionally secluded little world here and will try to get pictures out there to everyone. 

Love,

A, S, & C